Histopathological and Cytological Efficacy in The Diagnosis of Solitary Thyroid Nodules

Abstract

Background: thyroid nodules are found in 4-7% of the population, the preferred diagnostic approach is avoidance of numerous radiologic evaluations, and early performance fine-needle aspiration. Objectives: the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and histopathological assessment in diagnosis of solitary thyroid nodules. Methods: this study was done on twenty patients diagnosed as solitary thyroid nodule. All the patients’ FNAC and histopathological results were reviewed, confirmed, correlated and evaluated. Results: there were 4(20%) men and 16(80%) women, with a male-to-female ratio of 1: 4. The patients studied ranged in age from 17 to 65 years, with the majority ranging in age between 25 and 40 years (30%). According to FNAC findings, 65% were benign/non-neoplastic and 35% were malignant aspirates. The most common benign lesion diagnosed by FNAC was a colloid nodule (25%), whereas the most common malignant lesion was papillary carcinoma (30%). There were no false-positive cases (0%). A false-negative result was found in only two cases (10%). According to the histopathological findings, 60% were benign/non-neoplastic lesions and 40% were malignant. The most common benign/non-neoplastic lesions were colloid goiter (25%) and follicular adenoma (15%), whereas the most common malignant lesion was papillary carcinoma (35%). Conclusion: FNAC is a useful diagnostic method, but it has some limitations in the diagnosis of subtypes of solitary thyroid nodules such as follicular lesion. Histopathological study provides a more accurate diagnosis and overcomes these limitations.